SUMMER JABBERWOCK 2020

FROM YOUR PRESIDENT

I am extremely honored to welcome you to the 2020-2021 Junior League of Billings year! This is a meaningful and important year in our league for many reasons! We are celebrating our 50th year as a league with the Association of Junior Leagues International. It is our 25th year of Market Place Magic. And, it is our 5th year of our Montana Women’s Leadership Conference. We hope to share our league’s incredible history with you in many fun and exciting ways throughout the upcoming months. Our Administrative Assistant, Dina Pett, also celebrating this year with 40 years of service in her position, will be sharing on Social Media, Dina’s Corner. It is a post with fun pictures of past league projects and events. Each month, starting in September, we will celebrate a decade of the Junior League of Billings, sharing even more history and memorabilia from that time. Get ready to celebrate the 1950’s at our September General Membership Meeting! With this celebration of our history, it is also important to recognize our members during that time. We would love to have our sustaining members from the past be able to join us for any of the meetings, but definitely those cele-brating when they were active members. We want to see as many faces old, new, sustaining, and active as one membership this year! We are one league, the Junior League of Billings. The past months of 2020 have certainly been different, filled with challenges, changes, and uncertainties for every-one. Mary Harriman, founder of the Junior League once said, “ We have the responsibility to act, and we have the opportunity to conscientiously act to affect the environment about us.” Issues, social challenges, and the need for human interaction have not changed. As a league, we will continue to provide our services to our members and community as safe as we can. For the first time, we successfully held a May General Membership Meeting on Zoom with Speaker, Vicki Clark. We have continued to hold Laundry Days with Covid-19 restrictions based on local recommendations. We hope to hold our meetings, Market Place Magic, Laundry Days, and the Conference as usual, however, they may look different. We will do our best to keep every safe and healthy. We will keep every-one up to date on any changes and hopefully, we can get together soon as a group and begin our celebrations. This brings me to announce the Association of Junior Leagues Internationals theme for the upcoming year, Better Together. We have 290+ Leagues made up of 125,000+ members in four countries. There is strength in numbers, and together, we can be a force for change. As Junior Leagues, we envision a collaborative network where, work-ing together, we can pool resources, focus on priority areas, and improve communities across the globe. This is also the name that I have given to my weekly update videos in our Facebook group on Tuesday mornings. I want to make sure everyone is involved and on the same page. Please watch the videos, make any comments, sugges-tions, and ask any questions. We are truly Better Together, as a league, as volunteers, as women, and as friends. I am fortunate and proud to serve with you as your president for the upcoming year! “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

Helen Keller Yours in Service, Jennifer Massey President, 2020-2021

Jennifer and Family

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NEW SUSTAINERS

Thank you to Jill Dawson, Tali Phil, and Amy Riesinger for their many years as Active members

of the Junior League. Congratulations to our new Sustainers!

Leadership Conference 2020-2021 Hello Junior League Ladies! Hope everyone is having a safe summer! Just wanted to give an update on the Leadership Conference for 2021. As you may know, this is our 5th annual Women’s Leadership Conference. The conference will take place on February 12, 2021 at MSU-B. I am so excited to be part of the planning process as President Elect! Planning is already underway and will look a little different this year. Instead of a Leadership Conference Committee, we have broken down tasks for each council. This way, all members can be part of the process. I am looking forward to working closely with the Council Leaders to make important decisions for the conference. A brief breakdown includes: Membership Council- keynote, pre and post conference and ticket prices; Community- community speakers, location, food; Communications- marketing and communication about the conference; Fund development- mission/fundraising including sponsorships. This list is not exclusive so if you have an idea for a community speaker or sponsorship, please do not hesitate to email myself or reach out to your Council Leader. Also, keep your eyes peeled for an email asking you to rank potential topics from community speakers.

I am also pleased to announce that Ashley Rhodes-Courter will be our keynote speaker. Ashley has a Masters in Social Work and is a New York Bestselling Author. Ashley has received State, Local and National awards for her speaking, advocacy and philanthropy. Ashley is the author of Three Little Words and Three More Words. Side note: More to come on a book club later in the year. I am beyond excited that we were able to book Ashely Rhoder-Courter!! If you would like more information, you can visit Ashley’s website at rhoder-courter.com. Submitted by Helen Laferriere President-Elect

FUND DEVELOPMENT NEWS

MarketPlace Magic is being planned as of now. We are receiving applications from a wide variety of incredible vendors and will keep everyone informed if there are changes going forward. The luncheon is being planned for Friday, November 6, with Yellowstone Kelly’s Catering agreed to once again serve an incredible lunch and Bingo at the mart is planned for Saturday night, November 7, with lots of fun ideas taking shape. Pass the word around that we are looking for a variety of vendors. If you know someone who would fit with our show, please have them contact the office. Council members keep an eye on your email. I will be sending out a poll to set up a meeting in August where we will plan our raffle baskets, decorations, and health protocols that will be implemented at the event. Also, be sure to share social media posts about our event as you receive them Elizabeth Russell Fund Development Council Leader

ACTIVES August 4 Britanni Anderson August 13 Elizabeth Russell August 13 Meghan Hofferber August 16 Dana Paulson August 19 Beth Tobias SUSTAINERS August 3 Elda Schuman August 4 Suzy Cole August 12 Connie Grammens August 15 Kay Foster August 21 Jane McCracken August 26 Martha Tanner August 27 Jen Bennett August 28 Kelli Toohill August 28 Maxine Hanson August 29 Lucy Scott August 30 Joy Meyer August 30 Lynn Mullowney-Cabrera August 31 Mary Jane Knisely

MEMBERSHIP COUNCIL Being in the midst of a pandemic, time is a surreal concept. Some days just drag on, and others seem to pass by in a blink. Usually summer feels like it goes so fast, but this summer has me scratching my head for the date then surprised to find out it’s already July! Our Summer Picnic was delayed as we watched how coronavirus was affecting our community, and out of an abundance of caution we decided to skip it this year. BUT, do not worry!! Membership Council is planning a fun, socially distanced, community-centric activity instead! Stay tuned for details to be announced on our July 28

th Zoom HH, and online.

Speaking of socials, please mark your calendars, and find details on our private FB page as well as in your emails:

Tuesday, July 21: Virtual HH 7-9pm Tuesday, July 28: Virtual HH 7-9pm August Open House social: planning is currently on hold a few more weeks as we are concerned about the rise in

COVID-19 cases in our community. We want to be mindful and safe when planning but this is an important event for recruitment and for being better together. Stay tuned for more info in the coming weeks.

The objective of the Membership council will continue to prioritize the 3 Rs of Membership:

Recruit, Retain, and Recognize!

Because we are BETTER TOGETHER - Here’s how YOU can help!

Recruit: Word of mouth is KING (or QUEEN). Always be sharing why you’re a member of Junior League. Encourage friends to join you at socials, volunteering, and GMMs. But also, please think of any ladies who would benefit from the opportunities that the League provides and who want to positively impact the community. Please send us names and email/mailing addresses as soon as possible.

Retain: Discuss ideas with Membership Council on how we can continue to retain members. What gets you excited about each year with the JLB? How can we make it better? You tell us!

Recognize: Do you feel appreciated for your efforts with JLB? Tell us how we can show you our appreciation. How do you prefer to be recognized? Shout-outs on social media? Prizes and drawings for participation and engagement? Being announced during a GMM? You tell us! And remember to please make sure you’re following Junior League of Billings on Facebook and Instagram for motivation, event notices, and volunteer needs. Liking and Sharing increase the visibility of our posts. We look forward to an exciting and fun League year! Submitted by Jessica Taylor Membership Council Leader

COMMUNICATIONS Hello from Communications Council! It’s been an interesting time to start as a council leader! I’m glad to be serving our league in this role and I hope you have all had a good (if a little unusual) summer so far. I am excited to help our League celebrate our big anniversaries this year. Did you know that it is our 50th year as the Junior League of Billings, 25th year of MarketPlace Magic and 5th year of the Women’s Leadership Conference? Communications will be spotlighting our League history in many ways. One we’ve already started is a new addition to our social media post called Dina’s Corner. You’ll see a new post each Thursday with information and photos compiled by our

Administrative Director, Dina Pett. I’d like to give a huge thanks to Dina for sharing her wealth of knowledge about the League. Don’t miss Dina’s cor-ner on Thursday—I’ve loved learning about the be-ginning of the Junior League of Billings and I hope you will too! During this time of social distancing, we would love to see you interacting with us and each other virtually. Shares and likes on Facebook and Instagram help spread the word about our mission to people outside of Junior League. Our Facebook group is a great space to post about what you’re do-ing and connect with each other. I love this year’s message—we truly are BETTER TOGETHER! Marisa Clark Communications Leader

CONGRATULATIONS

to our 2019-2020 Volunteer of the Year, Beth Tobias

Beth Tobias was honored as our 2019-2020 Volunteer of the Year for her

dedication to our League and the community. Thank you Beth for everything that

you do! Congratulations were extended virtually at our May Annual Meting.

About Me

Hello, my name is Jennifer Massey and I am a craftaholic. I love to knit, crochet, paper craft, and more. I think I have tried a project in every aisle at Hobby Lobby. I just can’t sit. I have to be working on something! I am privileged that this year, Junior League will also keep me plenty busy. I grew up in Anaconda, MT, and went to college at Montana State University, where I earned a degree in Microbiology. I did research for 3 years helping to develop a vaccine for pregnant women to avoid complications with a mean bacteria called Group B Strep. Go Cats! This is where I met my other love, my husband, Dan. We have been married now for 20 years. My husband was in the Air Force allowing me to travel the world and gain more certificates, qualifications, and titles like Medical Technologist and Biomedical Scientist. We lived in South

Dakota, the United Kingdom, Nebraska, and Illinois. While living in Omaha, Nebraska I had the first of our four beautiful daughters. This allowed me to become a full-time mom and volunteer. I have been very lucky to serve on the boards of several organizations to include MOMS Club International, MOPS, and the PTA. I have always loved to serve and lead. Way back in high school, my resume included volunteer work, leadership roles, and even Leadership Camp! We moved back to Billings in 2011 to be closer to family. After some time in Billings, again working with organizations involving my children, I decided to search out an organization of women. I met several women who belonged to the Junior League of Billings. I decided to attend a new member social, and I was soon committed! There are such strong leaders in this organization. I loved that the mission involved developing the potential of women along with community impact and volunteerism. I have been an active member for seven years now. I was the Membership Council leader for two years, Communications Council Leader for 1 and ½, President Elect-Elect, President-Elect, and now your President. I was the volunteer of the year in 2017. I have been able to attend AJLI training to include Organizational Development Institute, Winter Leadership Conference, and the Annual Conference. My goals for the year are to make this 50th-year celebration meaningful, share our history with all of you and the community, and to develop the love that I have for this organization in all of you. I hope to bring our membership together as one league of women, volunteers, friends, and advocates for one another. I am yours in service this year. If you have any questions, needs, or ideas, please feel free to reach out to me at any time. Jennifer Massey 402-681-7730

JLB Board Retreat 2020-2021